


The Shadowbringers Waiting Room

by MoF10



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: 4.56 spoilers, Emotions, Gen, Post 4.56 MSQ, Reunions, female WoL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 19:19:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18835066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoF10/pseuds/MoF10
Summary: A reunion, and waiting.(4.56 (The Face of War) Spoilers.)





	The Shadowbringers Waiting Room

**Author's Note:**

> This fic probably won't make sense unless you've finished the 4.56 MSQ. Fair warning.
> 
> I use my female elezen WoL's name. (Nino Hana)
> 
> Expanded, Spoilery Summary:
> 
> Alisaie is reunited with the Scions and Alphinaud. Emotions are let out.

_Pain, pain,_ ** _pain._** Unending waves wracked Alisae’s head, her soul, her _being._ It felt as if her aether was staging a revolt against Hydaelyn and using her body as a battlefield. A voice was calling. Her soul was being ripped from her body, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

“No! Not like this…” Were on her lips. Her vision was fading. Alisaie reached out for the Warrior, for anything to keep herself _here_. This wasn’t the time to go. With a war to fight and Nino to assist, this couldn’t be the time that she was taken away. It _couldn’t_. Yet she felt herself fading away. Before she fully succumbed, she could see a hand reaching for her. They were so close. Just… a little… further…..

……………………………………

Alisaie caught herself with a gasp as she found herself laying somewhere else. For a moment, she had to shield her eyes. It was too _bright._ If asked, she would be in want of words that would properly describe where she was. The only one that sprung to mind was _ethereal._ Was it blackness? A blue haze? Alisaie wasn’t sure. Wherever it was, it felt distinct from Hydaelyn.

Surprisingly, hysteria hadn’t set in just yet. Mayhap it was because she hadn’t gotten her bearings yet. Getting herself to her feet and looking around, the young elezen still couldn’t put any meaningful words onto the space she inhabited.  Some sort of plane, given how she could seemingly walk around.. Her dear brother would know better words to use. Speaking of… she wasn’t alone.

“Alphinaud!” She cried as she caught sight of her mirror image in the (Astral? There was a word) Plane. Before he had a chance to reply, the breath was knocked out of his lungs by a bone-crushing hug.

“A-Alisaie!” The short Elezen choked out, very glad that whomstever had transported him here had the good sense to send his clothing as well. (Mayhap it was his vision of himself that he kept? Here, his clothes seemed to change with his thoughts.) If this were anywhere and anytime else, he might have found some humor in his sister’s rare display of affection. He could count on both hands the times his sister had _willingly_ chosen to embrace him. Still, the situation brooked no laughter. Instead, his arms found their way around his captor in an attempt to return the hug. There wasn’t anything else he could do, after all. Alisaie had him wholeheartedly trapped.

There wasn’t going to be freedom anytime soon, either. Alphinaud’s prison warden only tightened her grip, sniffling and burying her head into his shoulder. Wet spots began to gather on Alphinaud’s cloak, but he would summon an Eikon before he made to let go.

“Aww, how cute.” Another gruff voice entered, notably bemused by the scene unfolding before them.

“Oh hush. They’re still siblings, regardless of how much Alisaie’s soul seems to differ from Alphinaud’s.” Another voice chided.

“Hydaelyn upon you, Thancred.” Alisaie mumbled into her counterpart, still maintaining her vice grip on the second-shortest Scion.

“I wasn’t aware that you worried for me so, dear sister.” Alphinaud said.

“That is because you are a fool.” Was mumbled into his shoulder, Alisaie lifted her head to continue.

“Going to Garlemald alone! Leaving a cryptic message and no trail or path beyond an Imperial defector and a trail of dead bodies! And you expected me not to _worry?!_ I went to the BURN and found nothing but BODIES, Alphinaud! If not for the Black Wolf... _”_ Some of the sting of her rebuttal was taken away by the tears welling up in her eyes again.

“I...” For the first time in a long while, Alphinaud found himself at a loss for words. As skilled at political parley Alphinaud was, he was almost illiterate in matters of the heart. He looked up at the trio of Scions that he had joined here for assistance, but all of them gave him looks of either amusement (Y’shtola and Thancred) or pity (Urianger). They seemed to judge Alphinaud deserving of the verbal flogging that Alisaie was giving him. He agreed.

“I apologize. I… missed you dearly, as well.” Alphinaud said, laying his own head onto Alisaie. He hadn’t meant to worry anyone doing what he thought best. But again, he had acted somewhat rashly, running headlong into danger without much hesitation.

The weight (or idiocy) of what he had done had finally began to settle in. Running headlong into danger without anything in the way of second thoughts? Perhaps he had taken one lesson too many from the Warrior.

His eyes were wetter than they were a moment ago. The moment he reunited with the Warrior, she’d probably call him something like-

“Idiot… Bastard...” Alisaie’s words and tears were soaked up by the cloak that her face was buried in, snapping Alphinaud out of his reverie. No words came to mind, but he believed that the silent action of returning the tight hug spoke louder than any words he might have found.

The rest of the Scions had the propriety to stand back and stay silent while Alisaie wept into Alphinaud. Even before they had been transported here, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t seen Alisaie’s silent brooding on Hydaelyn. They all knew how much she had needed to see her brother.

“I would feel worse about leaving her behind if I didn’t know Nino hadn’t remained.” Y’shtola said quietly among the melody of sniffles from both Leveilleurs.

Some unmeasurable amount of time later, they eventually parted, red eyed but smiling. Alisaie looked around, only just now realising that the rest of the Scions had witnessed her display.

“If any of you tell _anyone_ about this...” Alisaie warned. The mage seemed as if she wanted to glare daggers into the peanut gallery, but was just a bit too happy to do so.

“Yes, yes, death and catastrophe await us.” Thancred finished. Prompting Alisaie to _actually_ glare daggers at the rogue. He still had his eyepatch, so she could only glare at his uncovered eye.

“We swear upon our lives, Alisaie.” Y’shtola cut in. “Thancred was just lonely by himself. Pay him no mind.” she continued with a smirk, prompting a quick reply from Thancred.

“Hey!”

“Alisaie, may you appraise us of what has happened since we made our… untimely departure?” Urianger asked.

“Yes… far too much and far too little.” She began, unfolding the tale of Alphinaud’s return (in body), the Doman alliance, and the eventual negotiations and war with Garlemald. Concern and thought were writ on the rest of the Scions faces as Alisaie spoke of the Warrior. Alphinaud seemed particularly distraught at the mention of Nino being left (relatively) alone.

“It would seem that we have been taken to another… plane. If Krile could not find our trail, it would only stand to reason this is a place that she is unable to access, correct?” Y’shtola deduced.

“For an aether trail to cut off suddenly… This was no simple feat, transporting us so wholly and quickly. However, I would not discount the fact that we may be another star entirely.” Urianger added.

“But _why?_ Surely there is no reason so pressing as to call us to another star?” Alisaie raised, arms crossing in a huff.

“If the voice is to be believed, _both_ our world and their own would disappear without the Warrior’s intervention.” was the reply from Y’shtola, raising questioning gazes from the rest of the scions.

“She could hear the voice clearly?” Alphinaud asked. “It was rather vague and muffled when it came upon me.”

“Yes, it was the same for me. Nino revealed the extent of what she heard to me before we were taken. She was concerned about you, as well.” The mage replied, prompting a sharp intake of breath from the Elezen.

“I-I… I will have to apologize to her when we return.” He said, unable to meet the eyes of the rest of the Scions.

A brief silence allowed Alisaie to re-evaluate her surroundings. It seemed to have gotten _much_ darker than it had been when Alisaie had arrived. If not for what seemed to be light emanating from the Scions, it would likely have been pitch black.

"What on Hydaelyn do we entertain ourselves with?" Alisaie said, mind moving on from more serious topics.

"I carry a deck of cards." Thancred supplied, prompting a laugh from Y'shtola.

"You don't intend to pass however long we are trapped here with _cards,_ do you?" Alisaie piqued.

"Can you think of anything better?" Thancred countered.

"Sleep is rather elusive in this place, as well." Urianger added. "We have only slept when our 'bodies' demanded it, so far."

"Hm." Alisaie ran out of ideas.

A short time later, the five Scions were seated in a circle, each holding their own set of cards.

It was getting rather dark, and worry threatened to overtake them. But the five souls burned bright against the dark, keeping the darkness at bay until the moment they knew was coming. The moment when the Warrior of Light would come and illuminate the way forward.

Until then, they would wait, ready to once again join the force of light against the darkness.


End file.
